The historical example in the Belmont Report illustrates a violation of which principle?

The Belmont Report outlines three fundamental ethical principles that guide research involving human subjects: respect for persons, beneficence, and justice. The principle of justice focuses on the equitable distribution of the burdens and benefits of research, emphasizing that no specific group of people should be unfairly targeted for exploitation or deprived of the benefits of research.

The historical example provided in the Belmont Report commonly refers to the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, wherein marginalized African American men were misled about their health status and denied treatment for syphilis. This situation exemplifies a violation of the principle of justice because it demonstrates how a specific group was exploited for research purposes without providing them the benefits of a treatment they needed. The men were not treated equally, and their vulnerability was taken advantage of, which led to significant harm and injustice.

In contrast, the other principles—beneficence and respect for persons—while also relevant to the ethical considerations of this study, do not encapsulate the core violation highlighted by the Tuskegee example as distinctly as the principle of justice does. Beneficence relates to minimizing harm and maximizing benefits, while respect for persons pertains to acknowledging autonomy and obtaining informed consent. However, the fundamental issue in this historical example lies within the lack of justice